State of Alabama Archives: on Budget & Economy

Robert Bentley:
Goal is balanced, conservative budget without federal help

We face a $165 million dollar shortfall in the education budget, and a $110 million dollar shortfall in the General Fund. Alabama must live within its means. My budgets will be balanced and conservative. First we must balance our current education and
General Fund budgets. Then we must look to 2012 and prioritize what taxpayers can and cannot afford. While there are sacrifices that must be made, we will come out of this difficult time stronger. Alabama will not look to Washington to bail us out.

Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Alabama legislature
Mar 1, 2011

Robert Bentley:
Protect essential services, and otherwise cut 15-45%

Medicaid must be protected. We must maintain funding of the Department of Corrections. But we also must be cost efficient in criminal justice spending. There will be protection for our Alabama National Guard. We will preserve and protect the ability
to maintain and achieve an ethical state government, by fully funding the Ethics Commission. Aside from those protections, every agency in the state's General Fund will be cut anywhere from 15 percent to 45 percent.

Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Alabama legislature
Mar 1, 2011

William Barnes:
Reduce spending and increase accountability

Bill Barnes selected AGREE for: "There is a great need to control government spending and reduce waste in government programs at every level. I pledge to reduce spending and increase accountability in spending."

Source: Alabama Eagle Forum 2010 Candidate Questionnaire
Aug 11, 2010

William Barnes:
Re-evaluate & reform banking and finance deregulation

Q: Do you support the Financial Reform & Consumer Protection bill?

A: I favor the bill. because we had protections in place going back as far as the 1930's that prohibit a lot of foreign investments in our country, prohibited banks from going in
other areas of business other than banking--into insurance, for example. What we had the last 24 years or so was a relaxation--deregulation--of that and it's what's brought us to where we're at economically.
Those rules and regulations in the 1930's were put there to help prevent what has happened with business becoming "too big to fail" as we've termed it. It's time we went back and re-evaluated that and put back into place those rules and regulations
that prevent big business from taking over the lives of our citizens.

Q: Shelby's the ranking member on that committee now...

A: Yes he is. And he was the chair of the banking and finance committee when this deregulation took place.

In campaign stops around Alabama, Sessions and Figures both said people voiced concerns about the economy.

Figures said people are “really finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Look where we are. We went from a nation in the black to a
nation in the red. Now we’re up to trillions of dollars in the red,” she said. “My opponent voted with the president 98 percent of the time.”

But Sessions broke with the Bush administration in voting against the financial bailout bill on
Oct. 1. “Though well-intentioned, the administration’s plan represents unprecedented governmental intervention in the economy,” Sessions said in a statement. Sessions said he doesn’t believe in “protecting reckless investors”
but supports “maintaining a healthy framework for investment.”

Figures said she doesn’t think anybody will be immune from the financial crisis. Without action by Congress, she said more jobs will be lost.

Vivian Davis Figures:
GOP turned nation from surplus to deficit, and jobs get lost

In campaign stops around Alabama, Sessions and Figures both said people voiced concerns about the economy.

Figures said people are “really finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Look where we are. We went from a nation in the black to a
nation in the red. Now we’re up to trillions of dollars in the red,” she said. “My opponent voted with the president 98 percent of the time.”

But Sessions broke with the Bush administration in voting against the financial bailout bill on
Oct. 1. “Though well-intentioned, the administration’s plan represents unprecedented governmental intervention in the economy,” Sessions said in a statement. Sessions said he doesn’t believe in “protecting reckless investors”
but supports “maintaining a healthy framework for investment.”

Figures said she doesn’t think anybody will be immune from the financial crisis. Without action by Congress, she said more jobs will be lost.